Has this got any attention? I tried to get a debate going on the Vacuvin under "How to ruin a good wine", but no one went for it. Don't you have these gadgets over there? They sell like hot-cakes over here and they are the worst thing ever for keeping wine. Somebody should sue the company because it does precisely the opposite to what it is sold for. It sucks all the aromatics out of a red wine, so you end up with something dull, and it sucks out the CO2 in a white wine and all white wines depend on minute quantities of that to keep them fresh and crips, although the fuller and fatter the style, the less there will be. Take it away and the wine becomes flat and lifeless. They are, however, brilliant for "correcting" refermented reds. Just pump away and see the bubbles go! I got this idea when many years ago they first came onto the market and mine had been hanging around in a drawer unused. We don't have much need for keeping part-used bottles of wine in the Stevenson household, hence the unused Vacuvin, but after a dinner party I had some vintage Krug left over. I was obviously under the influence because it was only as I was pumping away, seeing the Krug turn into a bottle of bubbles, that I realised that sparkling wine is the last thing these devices should be used for!

Tom...Most of the wine media over here badmouth the gadget too, and Wall Street Journal even ran a scientific test on the thing a few years back, exposing it as a fraud...but it still sells like hotcakes...in the same way as those big winged cork extractors with the drill (auger) instead of a worm. Thing is, they look/sound like they should work, so people go for them. As you know, my magazine, The Wine Trader, sells a few books and gizmos...but we've proudly never sold that one, even though it could have been profitable, I'm sure.

Also, I guess I find VacuVin distasteful because it reminds me too much of those apparatus which appear in the back of trashy men's magazines (or so I'm told, having never actually looked at one).

Hey!, Tom, now there's a practical use for the thing...why didn't we think of that before.

Vacu-vin is one of those things that SOUND like it should work but completely sucks. I can't believe that they say it preserves wine for a week -- in days, it turns to complete vinegar!

Since I live alone, I *always* have leftover wine (no wise cracks folks!). So far, the most effective method for me is getting 4-packs of Sutter Home splits (they have screw caps), dumping out the wine, and refilling the bottles to the top with my leftovers. It makes cute single servings, and the tiny bottle plus the screw cap help keep the air out.

Added bonus: no one will ask to share with you, even if the bottles are filled with leftover Insignia.